


sure? let's go on a quest

by kwritten



Series: supernatural boredom results in like quests and stuff [2]
Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: (aka: pov from a fixed physical point), (look at other parts of the series for the action), Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Call To Action, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Fae Magic, Gen, Legends, Quests, background charlie/connor, background miles/rachel, eventual? charlie/bass, if you squint? - Freeform, kind of?, stationary camera, this is all courtliness and very little quest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-26 00:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4983658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kwritten/pseuds/kwritten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie isn't your typical Fae princess, even before this whole incident with her mother gone missing, but now her special skill set may be the only thing that can get the Queen back, and the Court out of the brink of Civil War.</p><p>ridiculousness, really</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. my life? kind of like Hamlet's, actually. if you squint.

**Author's Note:**

> for the prompt #61: a famous warrior is counselled by a leader of the fae  
> Priscilla/Charlie/Bass
> 
> (look in other sections of this series for the claim Nora/Charlie as well)  
> ((coming soon!))

“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Charlie charged at her uncle, her crossbow raised and eyes flashing. She’d probably have to grovel and apologize for that later. A lot of groveling, depending upon her uncle’s mood. He didn’t really like it when she threatened his life. 

Once, she wandered into the human realm for a laugh with her brother Danny and they watched a play of sorts. This was back when the style of clothing for women was much bigger and fuller, she preferred the way human women dressed now, sleek lines and free-range. In the play, a young man went mad with grief when his uncle killed his father and married his mother. Shortly afterwards, her father reached the end of his lifespan and instead of choosing to reincarnate, as most of the Fae in the Court did, he walked aimlessly off into the wastelands, leaving the Court in his brother’s hands. She wondered often, after that, just how Miles would respond to her roaming about the woods talking in verse and acting like a wounded child. She didn’t attempt it, even after Danny purposefully lost himself in the human realm, fell in love with a mortal, and gave up his immortality to live and die as a human. 

As a rule, Charlie didn’t recite verse, talk to the ghost of her vengeful father, or threaten her uncle’s life with her crossbow; but there’s always the exception, right?

Miles held up his hands in mock surrender, “She’s not here, kid.”

Charlie glared at the Court, silent and watching her in awe and fear. She dropped the crossbow to her side with a smile, “Well, where is she?”

“The question of the hour, it seems,” Sebastian said from behind her uncle’s throne. The general had seen the Court through more than one war, and had waged a few against them as well. His loyalty to the Court was as flighty as his wandering eye. The one thing that seemed to keep him from stirring up trouble was his devotion to Miles. 

It wasn’t the least strategically sound thing her father ever did, walking away from the constantly shifting relationship between his wife and her paramour, his brother. They had always seemed before to be one season away from another attempted coup, another uprising from the Night Fae frustrated with the way Benjamin ruled over the Court and prioritized the Summer Fae. Leaving the Court in Miles’ hands ensured a strange sense of Fae survival. Miles and Rachel managed to keep the Fae united, even if their own relationship was constantly in flux. 

The one thing that remained steady was Sebastian’s loyalty to Miles and as long as Miles was seated beside Rachel, the Court kept functioning. 

Charlie didn’t envy any of them the burden of ruling, of the politics and in-fighting that inevitably came to pass regardless of their best intentions. And over the many years of observation, she saw clearly that this was as good as it was going to get, Rachel at the lead, Miles beside her – appeasing the darker Fae, and Sebastian in the shadows, without any real power, but always ensuring theirs with his own dark will. 

“You mean you don’t know?!” Charlie’s voice squeaked a bit and she winced, then glanced around at the gathering crowd of lesser Fae. “And you felt it prudent to reveal this to the masses, why?” Even she knew that Rachel was the one last thing keeping their world together, without her Miles and his general lost their tight leash and the Court lost its faith in its leadership. 

Everyone remembered the brief stint Miles had had at unilateral leadership. 

That’s the trouble with immortality, memories may fade, but they never die. 

“She wasn’t abducted, kid,” Miles said with exasperation. 

“If she’s just gone off on holiday, then why did you summon me?” she had been happily wrapped up in the embrace of two of Sebastian’s young soldiers on the other side of the Summer Forest, lapping up their adoration under sunny skies.

“Sorry to tear you away, princess.” Sebastian said archly before Miles could respond, “How is my son these days?”

“Quite adequate,” Charlie responded flippantly. She had taught him a lot over the years, been the first one to find him when he stumbled in from the human realm on accident after his human mother was killed by one of their enemies in retaliation for a skirmish with a demon race that thought themselves on the same level as the Fae. While their parents lead an army in retaliation, Charlie had taken Connor to her small home on the edge of the forest and taught him everything he needed to know about his new life… and how to serve her, as well. In truth, he had long since left her bed to find his own way in this new world, last she heard he was making himself invaluable to a Duke down in the Winter Valley. Their relationship of late was more that of two childhood friends than of lovers, not that she would ever let the General know that. She much too much enjoyed watching him squirm.

“Your mother left a note,” Miles said, rolling his eyes. Sebastian’s frustration over his son’s allegiance to the young princess was a conversation that he rarely had the patience for. 

Charlie turned around and stalked away, fed up with the whole business. 

“She left a message for _you_ , Charlotte,” Miles called out. 

Charlie turned around, folded her arms over her chest, and waited, one foot tapping impatiently. 

“I think she wants you to tell her what it says, brother,” Sebastian said cheerfully. 

Sometimes, Rachel’s daughter did exactly what he wished he could do. Balls of steel, that princess. 

Miles cleared his throat, “You are to go on a quest.” He sounded a bit uncertain, like he wasn’t exactly certain that he wasn’t the butt of some fabulously timed joke. 

Charlie rolled her eyes and turned back around, “Fuck that, see you around uncle Miles.”

“Alright everyone,” Sebastian bellowed, stepping out of the shadows for the first time, “Get the fuck out while the King has a chat with his niece. A little family privacy please, scoot! Out you go!”

Charlie watched, abashed, as the Court emptied itself within moments. She had never seen the throne hall empty. “So you really want me to go on this quest or whatever? Like a knight in one of those human stories you used to tell Danny?”

Miles threw himself into his throne and massaged his temples with his fingers, “I think that I just told the whole fucking Court that there _is_ a quest and so if we don’t at least make a show of discussing it, we could have a full-blown rebellion on our hands within a fortnight.”

Charlie sighed, “Can’t you pick one of your warrior soldier boys to do this?”

“None of them are as handy in a battle as you, Charlotte,” Sebastian said solemnly. 

He should know. He was the one that trained her with the sword, even if it had been Miles that originally placed one in her hand. In her youth, out of recklessness or boredom, Charlie had found it too easy to squirrel herself off into the human realm, or one of the lesser demon realms, at the height of a frenzied battle. War was her favorite drug, a secret that was kept between the three of them since she was a child and convinced a young teen human girl that her God wanted her on the battlefield. After Miles took over the King’s duties, and stopped his reign as rebellious general stalking to and fro the battles of his own making, it fell to Sebastian to accompany Charlie on her special field trips. 

She stopped being resentful a couple hundred years ago. Life was too long to hold a grudge. Anyway, there was no one she trusted at her back in a fight more than the General except maybe her uncle. Though she suspected he was growing soft in his old age. 

Miles rolled his eyes at his General’s statement, “You aren’t going anywhere. Rachel is just pissed at us for something we probably didn’t even do and will be back eventually. There’s no reason for you to go off on one of her wild goose chases.”

Charlie sat down, curling her legs beneath her, “Is that really what you think?”

Miles let out a sigh, “I don’t know. I don’t want to risk you going off and getting killed because Rachel is bored and wanted to make a scavenger hunt to get you back to Court.”

“She wants me back at Court?”

“Something about you not being a proper princess,” Sebastian snorted. 

Charlie stuck her tongue out at the old general, but he just grinned wider. 

“You’re a bit too old to be shirking your duties, kid,” Miles grumbled from his seat.

“Okay. So then I’ll be questy!” Charlie shot up to her feet, a wide smile splitting across her face. 

Sebastian smiled at her like she had just invented peanut butter. He was always asking people to bring him peanut butter from the human realm. It was kind of weird, if you asked Charlie. 

She always brought him a few jars, anyway. 

“Where do I start?”

Miles stared at her, “Didn’t you hear me? You aren’t actually doing this—”

“Gotta go see the Seer down in the River Valley, talk to the merfolk down there, they’ll tell you where to go,” Bass grabbed her elbow and steered her away from her uncle. “Can’t go with you on this one, they only let womenfolk down past the border, but it shouldn’t take long. Switch horses at Neville’s ranch. His son still loyal to you?” Charlie nodded. “Good,” Sebastian gave her a quick hug and pushed her away, “I’ll take care of the old man.”

“Thanks Bass. I’ll be back soon.”

“Just with your instructions.”

“So it’s that kind of a quest?”

Sebastian shrugged at her. 

She walked away with the sound of Miles’ shouts ringing in her ear. What the hell, it wasn’t like she had much to do, anyway. She was starting to get bored.


	2. I never said I was bluffing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Charlotte returns from her first task, gathers intel, and leaves again with a General in tow, much to her uncle's dismay.

When Charlie walked back into the Court nearly a year after she set out on that stupid quest, she was sporting a new, silver scar tracing across her collarbone in a smooth arc. Bass would have jumped down the stairs and strangled her himself if the entire Court wasn’t waiting for the King’s reaction to the triumphant return of his prodigal niece. Bass watched Miles out of the corner of his eye and tried not to shift, not to lean down and whisper something they’d both regret. 

Time may move differently for the Fae, but time was still time. They could experience it differently than the mortal creatures of the other realms, but they couldn’t hold it in their hand, they couldn’t speed it up, and they couldn’t turn it back. A year without a word from Charlie was still a year, and it cut as deep of a wound through the Court of Fae as it would in the human realm. 

The sun glinted off the silver scar on Charlie’s chest in a way that tugged at Bass’ stomach. He couldn’t tell if he wanted to trace his tongue along its line, or throw caution to the wind and raise hell looking for the creature that created it, just so he could kill it. Thoughts that a General loyal to a King should definitely _not_ be having about the princess of the Court, but he had long ago stopped fighting the imaginative paths that his lips and fingers could not follow. Charlie quirked an eyebrow up, her eyes focused in his direction, as she walked down the length of the hall, as if his face had given away his thoughts, but he was fully ensconced in shadow as always. He smiled to himself and bowed in mock salute ever so slightly, a motion that no one but her eyes could follow. Her eyes were dancing with mirth by the time she reached her uncle. Which, probably wasn’t in her best interest.

“Uncle,” she swept down in a grand bow. It was mocking and light-hearted, Charlie had never bowed to her uncle in all the time that he sat on the throne, nor had she ever felt the need to show such subservience to her mother and father when they held reign at Court together. “I have returned from the first step of my journey and have much to tell you.” She glanced at the gathering Fae and smiled more broadly, “Words for the monarch’s ear alone, if I may?”

Her deference only fueled Miles’ anger. 

“You have been gone eleven months and twelve days, daughter of my Queen,” he said stiffly, echoing her formal tone, his words dripping with his own brand of venom. Bass shifted slightly behind him in warning, but was ignored. “Surely the Court would delight in a tale of your adventures.”

Charlie’s eyes flickered up to where Bass lounged behind her uncle and she bit her lip with inner mirth, “My journey was hazardous, except in all the ways that it was quite simple and pleasant. I don’t have much to tell you … or the Court.” She slipped out of her formal speech, laughter lighting up her eyes. 

“We are so bored here, without your fantastic stories or your mother’s wisdom to keep Court gossip at bay. Please,” he gestured grandly, his actions tightly controlled. 

“Well. I rode down to the Neville farmstead on the outskirts of the Shadow Glen, stayed for a night in the warm company of young Jason, left again at dawn when my horse was refreshed, skirted the edge of the Silver Sea until I reached the River Valley. There, after a week of enquiries, a young maid took me out in her boat to the mouth of the river, which as we all know empties into the Twilight Bay. In the center of the Bay I was greeted by a sorceress of the deep. In exchange for the information she carried of my mother, I stayed with her for several months as her…” Charlie faltered, looked up at Bass in the shadows and winked at him, “As her sexual companion. It was quite delightful.” She paused and peered up at her uncle, the very picture of innocence, “Would you like me to elaborate? I’m sure the details from my time there would scintillate the Court---”

Bass cut her off with a bark of laughter, coming out from his Shadows and clapping his hands, “If the Court would please give the Princess and her uncle some privacy. I’m sure tonight at the feast, Princess Charlotte will regale us all with more stories of her many battles and adventures on the road…”

His voice trailed off as he cheerfully escorted the curious onlookers out of the hall personally, while Charlie and Miles stared each other down, neither one willing to give the other one an inch. Charlie was forced to break away from their staring contest when the General picked her up in a great hug and twirled her around and around with relief and happiness. She squealed with laughter in his arms and his heart nearly stopped from the intoxicating feel of her body pressed against his. 

“Bass! Put me down! Fuck!”

He deposited her at Miles’ feet with a huge grin plastered on his face, “So… she’s not dead. And we don’t have to send out the troops to fetch her home!” For the first time in his long life, he was quite delighted to _not_ have to march into battle. Maybe he was getting old. 

“You spent the last nine months fucking a mermaid?” Miles leaned over his knees and glowered at his niece. “Didn’t think to send a carrier pigeon or salmon to let us know you were alive?”

“To be fair,” Charlie said practically, “Time moved differently there and she kept me drugged.” She laughed at their stunned faces, “I mean, it was a great party and I totally _don’t_ regret meeting the sorceress, she’s…” a strange shadow passed over her face, but she shook it away quickly. “But I had no idea I was with her for so long. I swear it.”

“And did you get the information you needed?” Miles grumbled while Bass tried to contemplate an underwater sorceress that kept one so stimulated, you didn’t even realize time was passing. 

Charlie grinned cheekily at him, bounced up to her mother’s throne on his left side, tapped three times on the arm rest, and a small compartment opened. “She said to look in the secret place that mom showed me as a child. Probably if I had just stuck around here for more than a few minutes, I would have thought to look here first for a clue, but her note said to go to the River Valley so…” she shrugged, “Thanks for the great lay, mom?”

Bass leaned over the paper in her hands and frowned, “That doesn’t look good.”

“What does it say?” Miles sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers again. Poor man looked as if he was starting to go a bit grey at the temples. 

“ _Seek the Key for the Door between worlds. In the Space Between, speak to the Seer and she will guide you to the place that holds what You seek._ ” Charlie read aloud. 

“Well, that couldn’t be more cryptic,” Bass snarled. Charlie elbowed him in the ribs and he made a great show of falling down a few steps off the dais. She rolled her eyes at him and he winked at Miles, who looked even more pissed off than ever. 

“The Key? Are you sure it says the Key for the Door between worlds?”

Charlie scanned the paper, “Yup. That’s what it says. You know where I can get it?”

Miles slumped further down in his throne, “A few years back, not that long ago actually, there was a war over that damn Key – if it’s the same one I’m thinking – hellgod in exile and human warriors, one of those kinds of stories.”

“The human realm? Is holding something this powerful?”

“If it actually exists,” Miles said sullenly. “Rachel thought it was just a pretty story when it happened. Something to make sure the demons didn’t try to rise up. Something must have changed her mind.”

“Or it’s a riddle,” Bass said from below them. “Like everything else she does.”

“Well if it’s just a game, I’ve come too far to back out now,” Charlie said thoughtfully, perching herself on the arm of her mother’s throne.

“You spent nine months playing house with a seductress,” Miles pointed out casually. “You haven’t even really started, if you think about it.”

“If it keeps going the way it started, I’ll be finished in a few years and will have a lot of great stories to tell,” Charlie replied smartly. “I’m going… where am I going?”

Miles nodded to Bass, “Remember that little blonde thing up top? Tiny little warrior with a barrel full of sass?”

Bass nodded, “Find her?”

“Find her sister. Works as a professor in some little college up north from where we met her last time.”

“Who says he’s invited?” Charlie protested half-heartedly. 

“Me,” Miles said with a wave of his Kingly hand. “Now get the fuck out. I’ll figure out something to tell the Court.”

Bass held out his arm to Charlie with a grin, “My lady?”

She jumped on his back playfully, “And don’t you forget it.” At the entrance to the portal that would take them up to the human realm, she shouted back to her uncle, “See you in a couple years Miles!”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, brother!” Bass called over his shoulder. 

Miles groaned and rubbed his forehead in the aftermath of their giggling retreat. A hand pressed gently into his shoulder and a soft voice whispered in his ear, “They’ll be fine.”

Miles turned to his Queen and shook his head, “Why are you doing this again? What is the point of all of this?”

Rachel arched her eyebrows, “Aside from keeping the two of them out of trouble? You know the signs as well as I do. I don’t fancy having to take care of another teenage human girl that thinks her God asked her to start a war.”

“That was _one time_ ,” Miles spluttered. “And you _liked_ Joan!”

“Well,” Rachel perched herself in his lap delicately, “In any case, it’s not a good practice. The humans have enough to deal with, they don’t need our daughter causing chaos for her own amusement.”

Miles pressed a chaste kiss on her kiss, “And someday we’ll tell her that, right? The whole… _my daughter_ part?”

Rachel rolled her shoulders elegantly.

“And this quest shit, it’s _necessary_ , right?”

“Well… it didn’t _have_ to happen,” Rachel admitted. “But it’s not a bad idea in the long run. Charlie needs to take on more responsibility, the Key needs a champion in this realm, and The Between will show her things I cannot, my sister is eager to meet her.”

“We could have just taken her to meet your sister the old fashioned way,” Miles pointed out. 

“This way is more fun!”

“And Bass?”

Rachel drew a line with her finger across the bridge of Miles’ nose, “Every Queen needs a General. I had mine and she will have hers.”

“Shouldn’t she choose her own?”

“Oh Miles,” Rachel laughed. “Charlie picked Sebastian out of a crowd when she was just a toddler. Walked right up to him and claimed him, right here in this Hall.”

“She stomped on his foot from what I recall.”

“And he’s been loyal ever since. Even when the two of you argue, he’s still willing to run through fire for her. It isn’t a loyalty to the crown on her head, or to her family, but to _her_.”

“So she’s coming back a Queen?”

Rachel eyed the dais, “We’ll have to make some improvements while they’re gone.”

“And this in no way could completely backfire on us,” Miles asked, not for the first time. 

The hall filled with the Queen’s laughter.


	3. free will doesn't mean free reign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Charlotte returns to Court, quest completed, and a new path ahead of her that her parents couldn't have predicted.

“I’m going to kill her.”

“No, baby, no you’re not.”

“Please, _please_ remember to call me ‘baby’ in front of my parents? I hope they freak out.”

“I really hope they don’t. Your mother could kill me with her pinkie finger.” 

“Not if I kill her first.”

“Please don’t commit matricide today. Let things sit for a while, remember what Priscilla said.”

“Priscilla said a whole bunch of bullshit…”

“You liked her.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s not still my mother’s sister and full of as much bullshit as the Queen.”

“Baby, just… no bloodshed today, okay? I’m tired.”

“Since when do you call for no bloodshed?”

“Since we’ve been gone from Court for about three years now and I am starting to feel all the walking we’ve done in my knees.”

“I need a younger General.”

“Like hell.”

“Fine! Fine, no bloodshed.”

“Thank you.”

“ _Today_. I can’t promise how I’ll feel in the morning.”

When General Sebastian and Princess Charlotte finally stopped bickering and thrust their way into the throne hall, the entire Court was staring at them open-mouthed and they suddenly realized that … maybe… everyone could hear every word they’d said since they walked through the portal from the human realm back into Fae. 

Charlie smiled broadly and pointed across the hall at her mother, “I want to kill you, but my _General_ seems to think it would be in poor taste.”

“Glad to know you’ve learned to take good advice when it is given to you, daughter,” her mother sang out merrily, her voice lilting with humor. 

“Hi _dad_ ,” Charlie waved to the man seated next to her mother. “I guess we have a few things to discuss.”

Miles stood up and looked out at the Court, startled. “I wanted to tell you myself,” not really certain if he was speaking to his daughter or to his subjects.

“Well,” Charlie huffed as she trudged down the length of the hall, “Then you probably shouldn’t have sent me off to meet dear aunt Priscilla. She really gets off on revealing people’s secrets.” She glanced at her companion, “For example, did you know that Bass is terrified of jellyfish?” 

The General flushed a brilliant shade of red, a few courtiers giggled behind their hands as he passed by and he did his best not to growl at them. Really, this whole debacle had made him soft. 

Charlie didn’t stop at the foot of the dais, but tromped up the steps without hesitation, her heavy boots spraying mud on the thick carpet as she did. Bass followed suit because… well… he’d gotten used to following her lead in the past couple of years traversing The Between and it didn’t seem like it was necessary in that moment to suddenly change the way they’d been for so long. 

Rachel stood up as they approached, holding out her arms to embrace her daughter. Charlie accepted the hug with a roll of her eyes, “Hey what’s that for?” she gestured to the third throne on the other side of Rachel. The Queen lifted up her daughter’s long hair and inspected the light scar behind Charlie’s ear with a smile. It was shaped like a half-crescent moon. Bass had long ago memorized the length and shape of it with his teeth and tongue, a fact that he suddenly felt the Queen knew very well. Rachel shot him an amused glance and he did his best not to blush again. 

“That,” Rachel said, straightening. “Is for you, my daughter.” She angled her body towards the Court and spoke in a clear, bright tone that carried through the hall, “My daughter Charlotte has successfully gone through the Trials and bears the Mark of the Mother. From this day forward, she will sit at my side as co-regent, a Queen in every way.”

Charlie took a step away from her mother and gestured to Bass, “Hey can you… do that thing that you do?”

Miles shook his head, “Charlie, now’s not the best time…”

But Bass had already leapt down the stairs and had started ushering the Court out of the hall, a stern expression on his face, and only the lowest murmur of words coming from his mouth. Charlie frowned. She had hoped he’d shout the way he did before, but maybe this way was a bit more tactful. She turned her attention back on her mother, her eyes flashing and wild. 

“I should kill you,” there was no malice in her tone, a slight smile on her lips. Miles sat back down. Damn, she’d gotten scary. 

Rachel smiled back, “You _could_ , it wouldn’t do much good and you know it.”

“It would _feel_ really good,” Charlie responded, shifting her feet and clasping her hands behind her back. “Unless you have like… five damn good reasons for sending me off on a ridiculous quest to save you.”

“I never said that it was a quest to _save me_ Rachel protested stubbornly. 

“He did,” Charlie gestured to Miles.

“No, now Charlie. All I said was that your mother was gone, I didn’t know where she was, and she’d left a note. And that was… _mostly_ true.”

Bass snorted behind her and Charlie’s smile warmed.

“You did what you needed to do,” Rachel intoned solemnly, walking over to perch on her consort’s lap. Miles grimaced when she sat down and then winked at Charlie from behind Rachel’s shoulder. “And now you are Queen.”

Charlie shook her head, wishing she were still a million miles away. It had been Bass who had convinced her to come back to Court and face her mother, “You are Queen, mom. You know that’s not what I want.”

Rachel’s brow furrowed, “But… Priscilla?”

Charlie laughed and leaned slightly towards the warmth emanating from Bass at her back, “Is a total bad ass. I really wish she came to more family reunions. But…” she looked from her father back to her mother, “I’m not a Queen, no matter what she says.”

“Priscilla is the divine Seer. The voice of the Mother,” Rachel shook her head, “I don’t understand. What did she say to you?”

Bass spoke up before Charlie could lie, “She taught us how to play Parcheesi and how to make a mean pot of tea.” He stepped forward, brushing his shoulder against hers, “She also said that Charlie wouldn’t sit upon a throne until after her second renewal.”

Rachel laughed, “But Charlie has gone through the fire more than twice…?”

“No, mom. _Priscilla’s_ second renewal.”

Rachel’s face whitened. “But the Voice, only walks through the fire once a millennium?” She shook her head, “I don’t understand.”

“She…” Charlie struggled to find the words that she needed to help her mother understand. “That’s not _exactly_ what she said. There was… more than one option?”

Rachel frowned, her grip on Miles’ arm tightening until the whites of her knuckles showed, “That’s impossible. The Voice gives direction. One direction.”

“No one has ever walked The Between with the Key held firmly in their hand before. It’s always been out of reach, guarded by other factions, lost to other realms, having the Key with me… it changed everything,” Charlie’s voice fell nearly to a whisper. “I thought you knew.”

“So,” Miles tried to summarize helpfully. “Your mom sent you after the Key so that you could see dear old aunt Priscilla and get your destiny, only because you _had_ the Key, your destiny isn’t fixed?”

“But… the scar?!” Rachel interrupted. “I saw it, I saw the scar. It was solid.”

Charlie lifted her hair off her neck and turned, “Look again.”

Bass caught a glimpse of a light pink five-tipped star on her neck before the hair fell back down. 

“It shifts,” Rachel gasped. 

“Just to be clear,” Charlie said with a warning in her tone, “I’m still pissed at you, and you both are extremely lucky to still be alive after all the shit I went through. Four years is a long fucking time to be off doing something like this, you should have just been straight with me.”

“Six years,” Miles whispered.

“You wouldn’t have gone,” Rachel protested, her voice obscuring Miles’ words.

Charlie shrugged, “Well now we’ll never know.”

“All Queens must go to The Between before they ascend. It’s just the way it’s done,” Rachel sighed. 

“Well,” Charlie shrugged and turned back to skip down the stairs, dragging Bass along in her wake. 

“Where are you going?” Miles called out.

Charlie turned, “Back to the human realm. The Key was telling me about something called _college_ and it sounds pretty rad, actually.” She looked up at her parents, “I’m taking this dork with me if that’s cool.”

Bass tried not to feel like a spare piece of luggage. 

“And you will come back?”

Charlie smiled up at her mother, “Sometimes.” She looked over at Bass and then back at the Queen’s worried face, “I’m not pulling a Danny. I’ve got my General with me, I’ve got my Queen’s mark on my neck, and the Key will be at my side in the human realm. I’m not giving up my immortality, I’m just…”

“Avoiding responsibility,” Rachel shot out sharply. “Avoiding your proper place on the throne.”

“No,” Charlie shook her head slowly, “I’m just not doing it _your_ way.”

“So… someday?” Rachel looked at her hopefully. 

“That’s her way of saying _heavy is the crown_ , kid,” Miles called out.

“You’re an awesome Queen, mom. You don’t need my help.”

Charlie turned on her heel and headed back to the portal, her heart heavy in her chest. 

“Hey kid,” Miles jogged up to them, pulling Charlie into a hug. “Come back and visit sometimes, okay?”

Charlie smiled, “Promise.”

The King regarded his General silently for a moment, before pulling him into a fierce embrace. Charlie pretended not to see the tears in the men’s eyes as they pushed away from each other. 

Miles walked back to Rachel and held her hand as they watched their daughter walk into the portal with her General. 

“Was it worth it?” he asked her after they were gone. 

Rachel smiled tearfully, “It’s just like Priscilla said.”

“Wait. What?”

“Every Queen of the Fae is given her Destiny by the Seer, one that she cannot shake. Priscilla gave me Ben, and you, and Danny. She told me everything I needed to know to be a good Queen. And she told me…” Rachel’s voice cracked a little. “She told me that my daughter _could_ have a choice, could forge her own path. But only if she followed a specific journey at the beginning. Only if I pushed her to the Key, to The Between, in a new way.”

“You knew?! You knew this whole time?”

“That she would choose to leave us?” Rachel shook her head, “Priscilla said Charlie’s path was unreadable, it hadn’t been decided yet. But I hoped. And I was right.”

Rachel looked over at the empty throne waiting for her daughter and smiled. This was Fae, time moved differently here, there would be plenty of time for Charlie to find her way back to the role that was hers to fill. But until then, and even after she had accepted her role, the path she forged would be hers and hers alone. 

“Yes,” she whispered. “It was worth it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "The Key" is a Buffyverse reference, but hopefully still makes a bit of sense even if you aren't aware of it. Stay tuned for more stories about this quest, specifically Charlie's time with the Seer, Charlie and Bass finding The Key, and (maybe?) The Between.


End file.
